Sen. Marco Rubio is helping the state GOP mark the 5 year anniversary of Charlie Crist's entrance in the U.S. Senate race with a fundraiser that calls Crist a "phony" and asks Republicans to stop his "liberal agenda."

Crist, of course, was the Republican Party of Florida favorite -- and that of the national establishment -- when the race began but Rubio steadily overtook him, forcing Crist to leave the party and run as an independent. Rubio won in a three-way contest with Crist and Democrat Kendrick Meek.

Here's the email:

Friends,

Five years ago, Charlie Crist announced that he was running for the U.S. Senate. At the time, I was 20-30 points down in the polls. No one thought I had a chance. But with your support, things changed, and Floridians were exposed to the phony that is Charlie Crist.

Today, I’m asking you to help the Republican Party of Florida re-defeat Charlie Crist.

Five years ago, Crist sold himself as a conservative Republican, but he sure didn’t act like one. As Governor, he raised taxes by $2.2 billion, increased state debt by $5.2 billion, and oversaw an economy that lost 832,000 jobs.

Now, Charlie Crist has switched from Republican to Democrat, with a pit stop as an independent. He’s running out of parties.

I need you to support the Republican Party of Florida and help keep Charlie Crist out of the Governor’s Mansion. Floridians can’t afford to go back to the policies he embraced.

Your donation of $500, $250, $100, or even $50 will educate the public on the real Charlie Crist, the man who has been a member of every major party and crippled our state as Governor.

Crist supports Obamacare, causing Floridians to lose their doctors and their insurance plans.

He supports President Obama’s economic policies and won’t rule out raising taxes again as Governor.

On top of that, Charlie Crist has called for lifting the Cuban embargo, saying that Florida’s Cuban community needs to be stood up to, even while human rights abuses grow worse by the day for people under the Castro regime and while they export their brutal brand of repression to Venezuela as well.

I was elected as your Senator because the voters responded to my call for low taxes, more freedom, and a government that lives within its means.

Please join me in supporting the Republican Party of Florida so that we can stop Charlie Crist’s liberal agenda from taking hold in Florida once again.

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